Machines, such as turbine engines, may develop noises during operation. These noises may spread into the environment of the machine through one or more ducts defining flow passages for the machine, which, for example, feed fresh air to a compressor or discharge exhaust gases from the turbine engine. In order to reduce the noise emission into the environment, it is a conventional practice to arrange a silencer in the ducts.
The silencer includes a number of baffles made of noise absorbing material that are positioned inside the duct. Conventionally, the baffles are individually connected to an inner surface of the duct. This results in an inflexible and expensive duct design. Further, the assembling/welding of each baffle into the duct is a difficult and expensive task. Furthermore, the baffles once assembled and/or mounted, are difficult to access for maintenance, thereby resulting in an extended downtime of the turbomachine. Moreover, upgrading the duct and/or the silencer to comply with new noise requirements may necessitate a new duct or a redesigned and rebuilt duct.
US Patent publication no. 2015/0076097 relates to a baffle plate assembly for installation in a rack structure. The baffle plate assembly directscooling air from a front side of the rack structure to a cooling air inlet and blocks heated air from below or behind the baffle plate assembly from entering the cooling air inlet. The baffle plate assembly includes a baffle plate defining a first surface plane, a pair of side plates, and a pair of mounting brackets. The side plates extend along the baffle plate while the mounting brackets are attached to the side plates. Further, the baffle plate first surface plane forms an oblique angle with respect to a plane defined by a first plate member of the mounting brackets.